Asda has overtaken Sainsbury’s as Britain’s second largest supermarket after leapfrogging its rival in market share.
According to new data from Kantar, Asda has built on two years of continuous growth to move up a place in the rankings, with increased sales of 0.1 per cent this period, giving them a 15.4 per cent market share.
Sainsbury’s on the other hand saw sales fall by 1.8 per cent, meaning a loss in market share of 0.5 per cent down to third position at 15.3 per cent.
It was not all bad news for the retailer however, with some aspects of the business performing well, and the company remains larger than its counterpart, with whom it is currently proposing to merge, in food and drink sales.
Fraser McKevitt said: “Despite being overtaken by Asda in main store sales, Sainsbury’s remains the biggest seller of food and drink out of the two retailers and these figures do not include Argos. Sainsbury’s premium ‘Taste the Difference’ line is still a bright spot, with sales rising 4.4 per cent and the brand growing sales of alcohol, poultry and dairy products in particular.”
Overall sales figures show supermarket sales growth of 1.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to 24 March. It was the slowest growth period since 2018, for which retailers blamed a late Easter and Mother’s Day falling outside the accounting period.
McKevitt said: “Despite being overtaken by Asda in main store sales, Sainsbury’s remains the biggest seller of food and drink out of the two retailers and these figures do not include Argos. Sainsbury’s premium ‘Taste the Difference’ line is still a bright spot, with sales rising 4.4% and the brand growing sales of alcohol, poultry and dairy products in particular.”
Aldi continued to be the fastest grower with sales of 10.6 per cent increase saw it reach record high market share of 8 per cent, quickly closing in on Morrisons in fourth place at 10.3 per cent.
McKevitt added: 'Thirteen million households visited Aldi at least once in the past 12 weeks – now more than those shopping at Morrisons. London holds potential for Aldi – as both its fastest growing region and where its market share is currently lowest – going some way to explain the recently announced trial of the smaller Aldi Local format in the capital.”
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